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Monday, November 27, 2017

Moving with Cats

It has been a week since I packed up the cats and we traveled to the next stage of life. .. wait, really? how has it been a week already.. goodness, gracious..

Anyway.. We still have a lot more to do. We are still not out of Casa de Gato. I still haven't come up with a name for the new house, We still need to put CdG up on the market and sell it (*fingers crossed that goes well*) and you shouldn't be shocked to learn we still have a ton of boxes to unpack and that doesn't include the ton of boxes I don't plan to unpack for several months or more (they belong to my craft room and I don't have one of those yet)

We have several huge plans for this house, most of which require an engineer to see if the structure of the house can handle it. We also need to do something about the spot on the floor that is causing the ceiling above it to crack. All of this needs to wait though.. we have to finish moving first.

About the actual move..

I packed up the cats and attempted to get them out of the house before the movers showed up. Because the movers showed up half an hour early, I didn't quite pull that off. I was able to secure Eli and Twee first - very important - and got them in carriers and then usually everyone else is pretty easy. This time, however, Muffin decided she didn't want to go and found a way to open up the closet in my office that was hiding behind a stack of boxes that took up the entire length of the sliders. I had to move all kinds of boxes to get to her. When I finally got her out, the movers walked into the house freaking her out even more. She does not like being seen by company... I think she thinks they are going to steal her away.

I finally got them all in the car along with important things like litter and medications and we headed off. Interestingly, they quieted down really quickly. Normally we have to take the highway north to get to the vet half an hour away and they have words the entire way. This time by the time we got to the highway headed south they were fairly quiet. I would hear them occasionally, but in general, they sat and listened to my audiobook. About halfway, Eli developed a new trick. He found he could mew in such a way to sound like a car horn. I was on the highway all by myself, so I kept looking in all of my mirrors to make sure I wasn't missing something.I had to shake my head when I realized what he was doing.

When we got to the house I originally intended to set them up upstairs, but I quickly realized that was not going to work (the floor has not been cleaned and was full of drywall dust) I had to cart them all back down the stairs and I put them in the master bathroom. Unfortunately, the bathroom door didn't latch and the knob came off when I tried. Fortunately, they had no intention of leaving, but even so, I found myself checking on them quite frequently and sitting with them trying to calm them. Once the movers were finally gone we made the bed and opened the door. They came out and investigated the bedroom and then went and sat in their carriers as if to say "Okay, let's go home"

It took several days for them to feel comfortable enough in the room to try to investigate the hall. Twee, Fleurp, and Skippy were quicker to adapt to new rooms than Jack, Muffin, and Eli. Muffin has had the worst time of the six. It hasn't been too bad but she was the most resistant to eating in the kitchen and it took her the longest to climb up on the bed and sleep out in the open.

We are at the point where all the food is being fed in the kitchen now (as opposed to in the bedroom or in the hall right outside the bedroom) and all six cats are currently in the bed with us (I mean literally, as I type this). I have opened the door to the upstairs and the 'youngsters' are thrilled when I let them up there. The "elders" are still a bit nervous. It will probably be a week or two before I feel comfortable letting them into the basement (not that there is anything wrong with the basement, it is quite nice, but too much territory too quickly can be overwhelming for cats)

So far, *knock wood*, Jack has been fairly stable. I was giving him supplements to help his bladder and he has yet to pee outside the box *knocks more wood*. Twee is currently having a bit of an issue. She was very quiet all day yesterday and had a small bout of diarrhea. I think she is upset because her daddy isn't spending a lot of time at the house yet and she misses him.. at least that is what I hope it is.

I need to get established at the local vet. I suppose I should call them and make sure they even want me as a client (you know, the whole raw feeding minimal vaccines owner)

Anyway.. so far, so good, and I'm glad things went as smoothly as they did. Once we are fully out of the other house and we have a lot more boxes unpacked, I'll introduce myself to the local shelter. Hopefully they'll have kittens..

Oh, wow, okay, I was wondering if you were going to keep fostering from the same shelter, somehow, two hours away. I hope everyone settles in quickly and life falls into a pattern (of fostering kittens) again!

Ten years later I still have marked boxes stored from my last move. Will I ever unpack them? None of the cats I have now know any other house but this one. Hopefully I won't have to move. I bet your cats will get used to evereything eventually.

This all sounds really good except for cracking ceilings and doorknobs falling off and stuff. Unpacking is a pain but packing is surely much worse, so the hard part is over! (And that train set you have in your LR is amazing!)

I love how hard it is to get our kitties in the carrier ... but they have no problem climbing in when they're ready to go home (Bear does this at the vet every time - before the vet even opens the door, he's in the carrier ready to go home).